Apparatus and method for capturing a scene using staggered triggering of dense camera arrays

A method of capturing high speed video of a three-dimensional region of interest in a scene, said method comprising:

• a) positioning an array of video cameras for viewing said three-dimensional region of interest from a corresponding set of viewpoints, wherein each of said video cameras has a frame rate and a corresponding frame time, wherein said frame time is inversely related to said frame rate;
• b) staggering in time the capture of a set of frames by said array of video cameras, wherein said video cameras are triggered in a sequence whereby temporally successive frames in said set of frames is captured by two or more different video cameras of said array of video cameras, wherein said staggering introduces a time delay between said successive frames, wherein said time delay is the delay between triggering two of said different video cameras, and wherein said time delay is less than said frame time period of each of said video cameras;
• c) combining said set of frames;
• d) operating on said set of frames to generate a visual output having a synthetic viewpoint of said three-dimensional area of interest, wherein said operating comprises solving for a flow field at a (x,y,t) location of the synthetic viewpoint in a (x,y,t) view space, wherein said operating comprises decomposing an optical flow into a first component, being a scene motion per pixel, and a second component, being a scene depth per pixel, wherein said synthetic viewpoint is moveable in space and time;
• and
• e) spatio-temporally interpolating said visual output.

A method of capturing high speed video of a three-dimensional region of interest in a scene, said method comprising:

• a) positioning an array of video cameras for viewing said three-dimensional region of interest from a corresponding set of viewpoints, wherein each of said video cameras has a frame rate and a corresponding frame time, wherein said frame time is inversely related to said frame rate;
• b) staggering in time the capture of a set of frames by said array of video cameras, wherein said video cameras are triggered in a sequence whereby temporally successive frames in said set of frames is captured by two or more different video cameras of said array of video cameras, wherein said staggering introduces a time delay between said successive frames, wherein said time delay is the delay between triggering two of said different video cameras, wherein said time delay is less than said frame time period of each of said video cameras, and wherein said time delay between triggering said different video cameras is a predetermined user-selected phase delay Δ programmed into each of the video cameras;
• c) combining said set of frames;
• d) operating on said set of frames to generate a visual output having a synthetic viewpoint of said three-dimensional area of interest, wherein said operating comprises solving for a flow field at a (x,y,t) location of the synthetic viewpoint in a (x,y,t) view space, wherein said synthetic viewpoint is moveable in space and time;
• and
• e) spatio-temporally interpolating said visual output.